Trans-Siberian Stage 4: Russian Border Crossing

(Way earlier than) 6 am: Train pulls into Mongolian side of the border.

6:34 am: Our compartment wakes, debates the meaning and length of the stop.

6:35 am: Sign language employed with the train attendant to determine that the toilet is on the platform, and 1 hour remains of the stop.

6:37am: Steve and Erin step out of the train and realize that all that remains of our train are two lonely cars. They utilize the platform toilet, fumbling for change to pay for the privilege.

6:42am: Steve and Erin return to the train, and are followed onboard by a man in a white shirt and a hat. He wants to change our Mongolain Tugriks into Russian Roubles.

7:12am: the attendant knocks to tell us that the toilet is on the platform, and that passport control is at 8 am. 

7:13am: White-hat man tells us that the toilet is on the platform. And would we like to exchange some money?

7:20 am: Bob knocks on the door and tells us the toilet is on the platform and passport control is at 8. (Or maybe 8:30).

7:24am: The woman in the next cabin over starts talking loudly.

7:40 am: Erin and Shannon leave the train to utilize the platform toilet. The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing – a beautiful day…. But where in the world are we?

7:50am: An engine is attached to what is left of the train.

7:59am: Sue takes a phone call. From Australia.

8:13am: Customs declaration forms are handed out. They are identical to the ones we filled out upon entry and were instructed not to lose.  There is confusion, but we start to fill them out anyway.

8:15am: Bob stops by to clarify the forms.

8:27am: Uniformed officers motion the men from the top bunks to sit below.

8:29am: Our identities are confirmed “Look at me, please,” before our passports are collected.

9:22am: Passports are returned! (Optimism is expressed at the speediness of this part of the process).

9:31am: Mongolian customs forms collected.

9:42am: Russian immigration forms handed out.

9:44am: Bob reminds Sue and Peter that it will be 1pm before the toilet is open again.

9:48am: Bob reminds Erin not to drink too much water, as it will be 1pm before the toilet is open again.

10:04am: The train is moving! Into no-man’s land we roll, past a slow-moving river, a flood plain covered in trees and brush, horses grazing.

10:19am: The toilet is open!

10:26am: The toilet is locked. Train slows to a stop for no apparent reason.

10:27am: Train moves again as the reason for the stop becomes clear when two kids hop off.

10:38am: Train stops.

10:39am: Train moves again.

11:39am becomes the new time, thanks to the magic of time zones.

11:46am: Is that music, floating from somewhere? Or is the train just musical?

11:48am: It is determined that the train simply sounds like an orchestra.

11:58am: Train pulls into the Russian side of no-man’s land.

12:00: Immigration officers arrive at our cabin door, scanner in hand.

12:12pm:  Immigration officers move on to the next cabin.

12:13pm: We are asked to leave the cabin while an officer checks on the top bunks and under the lower. We are unclear what is being looked for, but it is not found here.

12:20pm: We are asked if we have anything to declare, and our under-bed storage is again given a passing glance.

12:31pm: Grant makes yet another sound effect. This time it is the passport scanner.

12:49pm: Freedom! We are released into the small Russian border town.

We head to a local café, where we have our first Russian meal before a quick walk down to the river, where a melancholy cow faces down a car on the old wooden bridge, men dive into the current, and fishing poles look hopeful of a catch. 

It was a hot afternoon on the Trans-Mongolian. We sought refuge in the cold-ish dining car, sipping cold-ish beer from cans and playing cards, then squished into one compartment for a Russian lesson. We tried to be good students, dutifully repeating in unison, and taking notes as Bob spelled out words on the window with a blue whiteboard marker - using a squished-down roll of toilet paper as an eraser – as outside a river meandered by and fed into a long lake.

Eventually, evening fell, the air cooled, and I could get down to the business of staring out the window, with my earbuds firmly in place, until Ulan-Ude started to materialize outside the window – houses of dark wood, brightened by window dressings in sky blue and neat backyard gardens.